Asylum seeker who threatened to kill Nigel Farage ‘has no defence’

An Afghan asylum seeker accused of threatening to kill Nigel Farage in a TikTok video ‘wanted the world to know that he loves AK-47’s’, a court was told.

Fayaz Khan, 26, known as Madapasa on social media, has a tattoo of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, better known as an AK-47, on his cheek.

He told the Reform leader he would marry his sister while travelling to the UK from Sweden, jurors have heard.

A firearm can be seen in one of his social media videos.

Khan was detained shortly after his arrival in the country via a small boat.

He denies making a threat to kill.

He was due to give evidence at his trial at Southwark Crown Court today (weds) but the jury was told he has chosen not to give evidence.

Making his closing speech to the jury, prosecutor Peter Ratliff said: ‘This case has been a short one, and it has been a short one for a very good reason. That reason is that the defendant actually has no defence at all when you think about it.

‘No defence, because he is guilty of making a threat to kill Nigel Farage.’

When he was questioned by the police, Khan claimed that when he said ‘pop pop pop’, and made a hand gesture to indicate a gun, it did not mean that he was suggesting that he wanted to shoot Mr Farage.

Mr Ratliff said: ‘It is just nonsense to suggest that this kind of gesture is anything other than a trigger gesture. A five-year-old boy knows that. If you think that it is sinister and menacing that’s because it is meant to be.’

Khan has also claimed that he made similar noises and gestures in his social media videos all the time.

‘That, when you think about it, is no defence at all’, said Mr Ratliff.

‘That video is directed to an individual. It’s directed to ‘English man’ Nigel Farage.

Khan also suggested that he ran the mafia.

Mr Ratliff said: ‘He’s not saying I’m part of the mafia, he’s saying I am the mafia. One of the social media accounts linked to the defendant has the word mafia in it.

‘What the defendant wanted the world to think is that he was genuinely authentic and dangerous. Whether he was is neither here nor there. That is what he wanted the world to think.

‘What tattoos you have says a lot about how you want the world to understand you. If you have a tattoo of Taylor Swift on your leg that is because you love Taylor Swift and you want the world to know that you love Taylor Swift.

‘If you have an AK-47 on your tattoo on your arm and face that is because you love AK-47’s and you want the world to know that.’

Khan claimed that he wanted to get his tattoos removed when he came to the UK.

Khan, of Sheerness, Kent, denies making a threat to kill.

The trial continues.